Christmas Fern

Polystichum acrostichoides (Michx.) Schott

Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas Fern) is a species of perennial herb in the family wood ferns. They have a self-supporting growth form. They are native to Eastern North America, Canada, and The Contiguous United States. They have compound, broad leaves. They have alternation of generations.

URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/FLOPO_0980073
Definition: Of plant duration, a plant whose life span extends over more than two growing seasons, c.f. annual, biennial, ephemeral, of flowering with respect to architecture, hapaxanthic, monocarpic, pleonanthic
Attribution: Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 12, July 2012. Glossary: http://www.mobot.org/mobot/research/apweb/top/glossaryi_p.html#perennial

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URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/FLOPO_0022142
Definition: whole plant herbaceous

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URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/self-supportingGrowthForm
Definition: an organism relying on its own supportive tissues rather than a climbing habit to achieve vertical growth

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URI: https://eol.org/schema/terms/eastern_north_america
Definition: From the Atlantic to central North America. May include Saskatchewan, Texas, and/or Guanajuato

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URI: http://www.geonames.org/6251999

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URI: http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q578170

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URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/PO_0020043
Definition: A leaf having two or more distinct leaflets that are evident as such from early in development

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URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/PATO_0002359
Definition: A quality inhering in a bearer by virtue of the bearer's width being notably higher than its length.

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URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/alternatingReproduction
Definition: Organisms with a life cycle that features alternation of generations with sexual and asexual reproduction.

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EOL has data for 21 attributes, including:

geographic distribution includes
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/Present
- Definition: This organism is known to be present in this location or region. Not exclusive; other regions may also be reported.
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United States
- URI: http://www.geonames.org/6252001
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habitat
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/RO_0002303
- Definition: x has habitat y if: x is an organism, y is a habitat, and y can sustain and allow the growth of a population of x
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coastal
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ENVO_01000687
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Leaf Complexity
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/FLOPO_0007484
- Definition: whether a leaf is intricate or compounded
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compound
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/PO_0020043
- Definition: A leaf having two or more distinct leaflets that are evident as such from early in development
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leaf morphology
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/FLOPO_0019932
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broad
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/PATO_0002359
- Definition: A quality inhering in a bearer by virtue of the bearer's width being notably higher than its length.
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native range includes
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/NativeRange
- Definition: Lists jurisdictions in which a given organism is a member of the undisturbed fauna or flora.
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Eastern North America
- URI: https://eol.org/schema/terms/eastern_north_america
- Definition: From the Atlantic to central North America. May include Saskatchewan, Texas, and/or Guanajuato
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photosynthetic pathway
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/photosyntheticPathway
- Definition: the biochemical pathway a plant uses to gain carbon for growth and reproduction. Plants have evolved three photosynthetic pathways, each in response to distinct environmental conditions, resulting in differences in their ecological patterns of growth and distribution.
- Comment: https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/the-ecology-of-photosynthetic-pathways-15785165
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c3 photosynthetic plant
- URI: https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q286954
- Definition: one of three metabolic pathways for carbon fixation in photosynthesis, along with C4 and CAM. This process converts carbon dioxide and ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP, a 5-carbon sugar) into 3-phosphoglycerate through the following reaction:\r\n\r\nCO2 + H2O + RuBP → (2) 3-phosphoglycerate\r\n\r\nThis reaction occurs in all plants as the first step of the Calvin–Benson cycle.
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plant growth form
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/FLOPO_0900032
- Definition: whole plant growth form. eg: herbaceous, tree, liana
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herb
- URI: https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q190903
- Definition: plant which has no persistent woody stem above ground
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plant lifeform
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/FLOPO_0900022
- Definition: whole plant lifeform
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terrestrial plant
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/terrestrialPlant
- Definition: A terrestrial plant is a plant that grows on or in or from land. Other types of plants are aquatic (living in water), epiphytic (living on trees) and lithophytic (living in or on rocks)
- Attribution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrestrial_plant
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reproduction
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/GO_0000003
- Definition: The production of new individuals that contain some portion of genetic material inherited from one or more parent organisms
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alternation of generations
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/alternatingReproduction
- Definition: Organisms with a life cycle that features alternation of generations with sexual and asexual reproduction.
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spore arrangement
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/sporeArrangement
- Definition: The important feature of homospory is the four fold division involved in spore production, this takes the form of either a tetrahedra which gives a trilete (Y shaped scar) spore or a tetragon which gives a monolete (single linear scar) spore.
- Attribution: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/GeolSci/micropal/spore.html
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monolete
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/monolete
- Definition: spores bearing a single linear scar, indicating that they were arranged in a tetragonal spore tetrad
- Attribution: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/GeolSci/micropal/spore.html
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trophic guild
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/TrophicGuild
- Definition: A group of species that exploit the same food resources, and/or use the same feeding or foraging methods. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guild_(ecology)
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photoautotroph
- URI: http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/ECOCORE_00000130
- Definition: An autotroph which is capable of transforming light into chemical energy.
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type specimen repository
- URI: http://eol.org/schema/terms/TypeSpecimenRepository
- Definition: The institution that holds a type specimen for a given species. The recommended best practice is to use the identifier in a collections registry such as the Biodiversity Collections Index (http://www.biodiversitycollectionsindex.org/).
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Harvard UNiversity, Museum of Comparative Zoology
- URI: http://biocol.org/urn:lsid:biocol.org:col:33791
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Known occurrences, collected specimens and observations of Christmas fern. View this species on GBIF

Christmas fern includes 1 child:

Polystichum acrostichoides var. lonchitoides Brooks (Christmas fern)